UCI changes bad news for Britain

Thursday 6 May 2010 13:08 BST

Track cycling

Great Britain's hopes of a dominant track cycling display on home soil have been hit after the world governing body announced a radical overhaul of the qualification system for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Britain won seven out of 10 events at the Beijing Games in 2008, with Mark Cavendish the only member of the team to return from the Laoshan Velodrome without a medal.

But the UCI have announced there will be a maximum of one athlete per nation per event in London and the qualification programme will include the European Championships, which have previously been only an under-23 event.

Britain were the dominant force in China and had already seen their medal hopes diminish by a radical overhaul of the track programme to create gender parity.

The move for gender parity was welcomed by many but came at a price, as the UCI opted to remove traditional endurance events the individual pursuits, points races and Madison from the programme.

In Beijing, Sir Chris Hoy won three titles, Bradley Wiggins two and Victoria Pendleton and Rebecca Romero also claimed gold.

Hoy and Wiggins were members of the gold medal-winning team sprint and team pursuit squads, respectively.

Britain secured gold and silver medals in the men's sprint and men's keirin, with Hoy finishing ahead of Jason Kenny and Ross Edgar, respectively, as well as the women's individual pursuit, where Wendy Houvenaghel finished second to Romero.

Steven Burke was third behind Wiggins in the men's individual pursuit and Chris Newton took bronze in the men's points race.

Such dominance was unprecedented and will now not be seen again after the qualification reforms.